1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the art of cooking appliances and, more particularly, to a unitary gas burner module for use in a cooking appliance having a gas oven.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
In general, cooking appliances utilizing gas burners to perform cooking operations are known in the art. Typically, such gas burners and other combustion components are positioned to radiate heat into an oven cavity within which is located a food item. That is, the gas burner could be positioned below an oven cavity panel or, alternatively, on an oven cavity surface. In either case, burning gas emitted from the gas burner element causes the temperature of the cavity to rise. In this manner, the food item undergoes a desired cooking operation.
In mounting a gas burner in an oven cavity, great concern must be taken in the alignment between the various combustion components, the most critical being the alignment between the gas burner element and a gas orifice. The gas orifice is provided to direct a gas flow having a distinct configuration into the burner element. Certainly, any changes in the configuration of the gas flow can result in improper or incomplete combustion. The configuration of the gas flow is most affected by misalignment of the orifice with respect to the gas burner. In any case, misalignment will cause improper combustion, resulting in greater emissions from the oven and a shortening of the life of the combustion components.
Characteristically, the gas burner and gas orifice are mounted to different structure within the cooking appliance. The mounting arrangement is generally necessitated by design and spatial constraints. Unfortunately, this typical mounting arrangement promulgates misalignment problems, whether in initial factory assembly or field replacement. As such, the efficiency of the oven is reduced and, by extension, so is the service life of the overall appliance.
Based on the above, there exists a need in the art for a cooking appliance employing a gas burner module. More specifically, there exists a need for a gas burner module formed as a single unit having arranged thereon at least the gas burner element and the gas orifice such as to minimize variability between units. In this manner, by-products of combustion exhausted from the cooking appliance will consistently fall within agency specifications.
The present invention is directed to incorporating a gas burner module into a cooking appliance. That is, a cooking appliance including a cabinet and an oven cavity further includes a gas burner module positioned to radiate heat into the oven cavity. The gas burner module includes a base structure defined by a horizontal planar surface having arranged thereon at least a gas burner element and a gas orifice defining member which are maintained in a predetermined, fixed alignment.
In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the base structure is formed from a stamped metal sheet adapted to be positioned inside the oven cavity. The metal sheet includes a plurality of mounting receptacles for securing the gas burner and gas orifice defining member to the base structure. More specifically, a pair of attachment brackets are employed to mount the gas burner element to the base structure, while a separate attachment bracket is utilized for further mounting the gas orifice defining member to the base structure. A gas igniter is secured at the gas burner element, at a position substantially spaced from the gas orifice defining member, to ignite gas flowing through the gas burner element. The module also includes a supply tube having an end fixed at the gas orifice defining member. With this overall arrangement, an integrated gas burner module is defined which can be mounted in a cooking appliance as a single unit, while assuring a desired alignment between the gas burner element and a gas orifice in order to eliminate assembly time variations and to assure efficient gas combustion with consistently low emissions.
Additional objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment when taken in conjunction with the drawings wherein like reference numerals refer to corresponding parts in the several views.